E2010LDingridb
12 Apr 2024
We hebben zojuist onze gedenkwaardige tour met Green Clover Tour Mongolia voltooid en deze recensie geschreven vanaf de luchthaven Chinggis Khan. Onze gids Jagaa en chauffeur Ochiroo waren zeer professioneel en ervaren en maakten onze reis veilig en plezierig. Naast sightseeing hadden we ook de kans om met lokale nomadenfamilies in contact te komen om meer te leren over hun levensstijl. Geweldige ervaring inderdaad. Tsatsaa reageerde erg op onze vragen. Sterk aanbevolen! ! ! !
We traveled through the Gobi with Green Clover Tour Mongolia. It was one of the best tours of my life and one of the best decisions of choosing Green Clover Tour Mongolia. The price was reasonable and flexible .We are driving through the Gobi desert and the sun is setting over the distant steppes. The horses appear in the horizon, over the sand dunes. The hundreds and hundreds of sheep and goat dot the nearer steppes.
We arrive at the Zorigtoos family's ger and farm. It is Spring, and there is new life everywhere - we saw so many baby horses, baby camels already on our way from Ulaan Batar. This pen is full of baby goats and baby sheep, one born just a few minutes ago. And they are all in a stampede trying to reach Simon and me. We pick them up one at a time, much to the chagrin of the others, so we take turns holding two at a time this time. Of course they want food, but they snuggle in our necks anyway - they are a lot more snuggly than our cat Totoro. Their momma's are out in the far away steppes and Mrs. Zorigtoos and the daughter are out there herding them to bring them home. One by one the babies are let out of the pen to feed from their specific momma - no momma will feed no random baby - they will gently butt the wrong baby away. But I am amazed the nomad family knows which baby belongs to which momma. And I am reminded back when my parents used to breed German Shepherds, we always knew the puppies apart. But that was maybe 5-6 puppies at a time - here it is hundreds of babies - I can barely tell the baby goats from the baby sheep.
We are invited to their ger for khoormog (camel milk) tea with boortsog (cookies - homemade). There's a big bowl of chanasan makh (boiled meat) sitting over there - please help ourselves - Tugsuu cuts pieces off and hands them to us. Then for dinner, how about a lavsha (soup) of borts (pounded dried meat - this was camel) - it is so good, but it also helps that our mostly vegetable consuming bodies from Tōkyō, have now adjusted to the high animal-protein/fat meals of Mongolia. The family offers us their main ger for us to sleep - they have a smaller spare ger where they will sleep tonight. But they have to go to their brother's house to bring bedding for us. Tonight is not as cold as when we were in the previous ger - this is more in South Gobi. So we go out to see the stars, the thousand stars that light up the night sky. We see many satellites, a few shooting stars. The goats are wondering if we are here to feed them again so late in the night. The family guard dogs are curious - one of them ran with us to the sand dunes earlier in a playful mood, but what are we up to this late - will we steal their goats? Bankhar, the native dog breeds - even in Ulaan Batar we saw mostly just this breed.
The Zorigtoos family also owns a small herd of camels, so the milk is fresher than any milk that I have ever had. I want to taste some raw - everyone cautions me against it. I say raw milk is full of good bacteria (this is not true - I just taunt hyperbole like this, so please don't try this at home). Simon wonders then, whatever made Louis Pasteur so famous. Mrs. Zorigtoos says it is ok to drink raw camel's milk, but maybe my body is not used to it. I insist. Fresh un-boiled camel milk - still warm from the milking. She boils some for me also - and it smells even better now.
We ride camels to the dunes and are back for lunch - this time Mrs. Zorigtoos is making tsuivan (stir fried homemade noodles with goat meat) - this is my favorite Mongolian food. I am amazed how tasty it is - no spices, no onions, no garlic. Just salt, a minimal amount of carrots and potatoes, homemade pasta and real, fatty, free-range goat meat. She doesn't even use oil - the fat from the meat just renders as it cooks and coats everything with its richness. I lament the lack of real meat in the city.
We are ready to leave. Mr. Zorigtoos gives Simon his traditional robe - "wear this - it will look good on you". Mrs. Zorigtoos brings me her robe. They say it fits us - we could be nomads.
Oh I would totally swap data science for nomad - two goats, two sheep and their snuggling babies and the Bankhar dogs who would never let me cuddle them like modern human bred city dogs, but would still love me and run to the sand dunes with me. And there we were, being spoiled to oblivion, by the beautiful landscape of this country, the infinite hospitality of the nomad people, who have fed us their own goats, given up their own home to us, and let us don their own clothes.
Tsatsraa and Tugsuu have taken us to the most stunning places in the Gobi desert, in the footsteps of Genghis Khan - they have driven tirelessly through rocks and small streams and sand dunes to show us the beauty of their country. At the end she asks, "so, what was your favorite of all the places we took you to?". And we both say in unison, "staying in the gers with the nomad families".
Highly recommend Green Clover Tour Mongolia. And enjoy with them.